Blessed By The El
by HanaEve
Summary: A blessing from the El itself, as wonderful as it sounds, isn't necessarily a good thing. Just like how someone's life, starting from small irregularities, that suddenly gets turned upside down isn't necessarily a bad thing either...


What does one do when they wake up and find their eyes had turned into a bright orange that stands out like a traffic light? Scream? Flip a table in a What-the-El moment? Consult a family member or something?!

Ara clutched at her ebony hair, practically tearing clumps of it out as she gritted her teeth together. Bending in front of the gold-rimmed mirror, she scowled and glared at her reflection as if her eye color would darken back to that dull hazel brown she used to have if she stared long and hard enough.

Half of the options that hurriedly ran through her mind weren't possible; biggest reason being her parents were dead and her brother had gone into hiding because of some stupid thing she couldn't remember. She'd moved past it, learnt not to dwell on it or to give a damn about it anymore. The ebonette had lived by herself since then. According to her brother, she was old enough to do so when he moved, well, escaped.

Yep, thirteen was certainly the ripe old age when you could live by yourself without any support.

Uh huh.

Sighing, she drew back from the mirror, her gaze landing on the family portrait set on the table. The family were dressed simply in the portrait, and the overall mood was quite depressing, but her mother seemed to radiate light, a slight smile gracing her lips as she stood one arm around each of the children. A pale brown flower birthmark showed under the sleeve of her dress.

Their family symbol.

Ara set her jaw and tried to block out the pang of sadness as she headed out of her bedroom, but almost immediately tripped over a pile of somethings. Her gaze fell upon the pile of clothes that blocked the doorway and the mess everywhere. The ebonette rarely did the laundry or housework;nobody ever cared anyway. She deadpanned and kicked the bundle aside_, _mentally adding that to her ever-growing list of things to do.

Half-prancing into the kitchen, she flung open the fridge so hard in her haste to get food that the door quite literally made a dent in the not-so-sturdy wall. Ignoring the damage, her eyes darted into the racks, expecting at least some bread or milk, but instead found herself staring blankly at an empty cooler.

"Well there goes my hope of having chocolate cake for breakfast…" the ebonette muttered sullenly as she slammed the refrigerator shut. Scavenging in the cupboards earned her a couple of biscuits, which she stuffed in her mouth as she ran back upstairs. She pulled on a random black and orange dress that she scooped off the floor, and chucked a pair of black high heels at the doorway to wear later. Swiping a brush off her dresser, which was way to fancy for her liking , she glowered at the mirror and was just yanking at her impossibly tangled, ankle length hair when suddenly the doorbell rang.

_Ding ding ding…ding ding ding…_

The ringing sound was almost foreign to Ara,; it hardly ever rung, seeing as she never went out and had almost no ties that she knew of anywhere. But now the bell was ringing, sending a sound that echoed and filled the empty corridors and rooms.

She stood there dumbly for a few seconds before her body finally responded.

"Uh, coming!" She called out as she dumped her brush on the bed, twisting her hair haphazardly into a bun as she tried not to trip. Jamming in the last of her hair slides to keep it in, she skidded to a halt and bent down to look through the keyhole.

There was no one there.

Ara stared. First her eyes decided to turn bright gold and now there seemed to be a phantom visitor, and it wasn't even midday yet.

She was about to turn around when the doorbell rang for a second time.

The ebonette's eye twitched as she spun around and glared through the keyhole again.

And once more, the barely lit pathway up to the house was deserted.

The ebonette shook her head and made a move towards the staircase when…

_Ding ding ding…ding ding ding…_

"AGHHH, FOR HOLY EL'S SAKE!" Ara yelled, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

When the bell rang loudly for the fourth time, she was ready, and furiously yanked the door open mid ring.

"Okay whoever you are, I don't know what on ELRIOS you're thinking of doing, but if you could be so KIND to realise tha-"

Now that she had actually flung open the door, it took one look outside for Ara to fully regret doing so.

For standing in front of the house, with varied weapons pointed at her, decked out in full armor, were Hamelian guards.

_Sh*t._

"Miss Ara Haan, if I assume correctly?" A voice called out as the owner of it stepped forward.

"You are correct and why are you asking me this?" Ara regarded the woman standing in front of her. After staring quite judgmentally at the woman's bright red eyes, silver-grey hair and pink white armor, she concluded, after hearing the woman's flat digital tone, that she was a Nasod.

"Grab her." The woman merely waved her hand at the surrounding guards, her gaze never wavering. Ara stepped into a defensive stance as they closed in, their blades glinting wickedly in the light.

"View Between."

A huge claw suddenly sliced through the air and the watching silverette hissed in surprise, leaping back just as the claw raked the ground where she was standing. Three ugly gashes were left on the ground and the other soldiers were sent flying.

A steely eyed woman suddenly landed gracefully on the ground with almost no sound at all. She was clad in oriental dress and had pink-purple hair so pale it was almost white, tumbling down her shoulders. There was something about her face that reminded her of a fox. Maybe it was her sharp, red eyes, or the way parts of her fringe fell on her face like claw marks and how her other locks of hair stuck up in two tufts like ears. She caught Ara staring and a smile broke out across her features. Ara knew she should be wary, scared even, but the smile seemed weirdly comforting.

"You." She directed her voice to the Nasodian woman who was standing close by, having recovered from the attack. The woman's voice had a silvery lilting quality to it, laced with a slight eastern accent.

"According to my database, the list of words that I can be addressed by does not contain the word 'you'." The android droned coolly.

Miss Foxy-Face merely sighed as if she had been through this before and pointed in the other direction.

"Would Princess Q-Proto 00 please leave the area Her fellow Elrioslings have things to do here." She drawled in a mock polite tone. 'Princess Q-Proto 00' rolled her eyes briefly and did an exaggerated curtsy.

"As you wish, my dear Great Demon Goddess Eun." She answered with a equally fake polite voice. She turned to go but then suddenly stopped, leaned in close to Eun, and narrowed her eyes.

"But this isn't done yet. Oh no."

Ara didn't know how a robot could put so much venom and dislike in those words.

"It hasn't even started." She continued. "That girl… is _ours_."

Leaping effortlessly onto the roof, without sparing a single glance backward, the Nasodian woman vanished into the haze.

Eun's eyes narrowed into slits as she glared at the direction where she had went off.

"We shall see…" She whispered. "We shall see…" The silverette turned abruptly around and her tone became brisk.

"You need to come with me."

Ara just stared at her.

"And quickly, before more of them come." Eun muttered as she glanced at the bedraggled soldiers who were hurriedly scuttling away, now that their leader was gone.

"I'm sorry, but why the heck should i? My eyes just changed a bright orange, I nearly got kidnapped by a crazy Nasod lady and now you want me to go with you, who not to mention is a complete stranger to me-

The silver haired woman cut her off in a tone of impatience. "I will explain everything, but for now, follow me."

Ara opened her mouth to protest, but the woman silenced her with a look. The ebonette sighed and dropped her argument.

"Everything?" The ebonette pressed.

Eun hesitated, before heaving a sigh and faced her fully. For the first time, Ara noticed that she had one eye as golden as the sun and the other the colour of a blood red rose.

"Everything."


End file.
